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Monday, March 18, 2024

Two Murder Hobos

D&D Bard and Fighter

28mm


So a friend of mine is running a D&D game, or will be as soon as we can fit five adult schedules together 😄.  We had a session zero to start our character creation and background, and I decided to play a bard.  I've offered to source and even paint figures for anyone who wants, and I've had one taker so far.

Gedly of Lamneth is a bard of the College of Lore, who plays the bass lute.  He has secret demonic heritage which allows him to cast the Fireball cantrip as well as his regular complement of bardic magic.


Thorin is a human fighter, and acolyte of Tyr the god of valor and war.  Tall, fair haired, and lean, he wields a silvered sword.

Both of these figures were lightly converted, which is so much easier with the D&D plastic minis!  For Gedly I removed a hat and added long hair and glasses, and modified his sword blade and lute. For Thorin, I covered up elf ears with more hair, and removed a falcon from his outstretched hand.

Tuesday, February 27, 2024

World of Cats

Nine Lives

28mm scale

Even the smallest feline is a masterpiece of nature.





In the overgrown ruins of a long-abandoned human city, a colony of cats are living their best lives...

Most of the cat miniatures are from Bad Squiddo Games.  The diorama base is made from thin plywood and foamcore board, coated with polyfilla.  This piece was inspired by playing the video game "Stray", as well as a couple of stunning dioramas by Roman Lappat:




Wednesday, February 14, 2024

Life in the Mythos

Priest of the Yellow King

28 mm

“This is the thing that troubles me, for I cannot forget Carcosa where black stars hang in the heavens; where the shadows of men's thoughts lengthen in the afternoon, when the twin suns sink into the lake of Hali; and my mind will bear for ever the memory of the Pallid Mask. I pray God will curse the writer, as the writer has cursed the world with its beautiful stupendous creation, terrible in its simplicity, irresistible in its truth--a world which now trembles before the King In Yellow.”
― Robert W Chambers, The King in Yellow and Other Horror Stories



This cultist of the King in Yellow is a piece from the board game "Mansions of Madness".  I made the crude idol he worships before in the style of a similar one that appeared in "True Detective".



Crawling One

28mm scale

“Great holes secretly are digged where earth’s pores ought to suffice, and things have learnt to walk that ought to crawl.” - HP Lovecraft, "The Festival"



Crawling Ones are created when dead wizards or evil mystics die and their remains consumed by masses of worms and invertebrates.  Their evil life essence possesses the mass of creatures, forming a humanoid mass of squirming horror.  This is another "Mansions of Madness" figure.

Wednesday, January 31, 2024

The Innsmouth Look

Innsmouth villagers

28 mm



The secluded village of Innsmouth.  Odd rumors about its peculiar folk abound in the area around, but the village is isolated by a great marsh surrounding it, and the most... unwelcoming attitude of its residents.  

And a peculiar folk they are. The village is run-down and shabby, one might almost mistake it for abandoned except for the odd figures shambling through the streets.  Figures with a very distinctive faces: bulging eyes, large batrachian lips, receding foreheads.  Certainly rather inbred, but with a suggestion of something else too...



These characterful Lovecraftian figures are from the Mansions of Madness board game (sweater guy) and EM4 miniatures (thin man).  Lots of fun to bring them to life, even though they're not "flashy".


Friday, January 19, 2024

You take my life...

 ... but I'll take yours too

You fire your musket but I'll run you through...

The Trooper

28mm




Staggering forwards, he clenches his bloodied sabre and raises the battle standard in the enemy's face, as shots ring out all around... What can victory even mean, in this slaughterhouse of flesh and metal?

The Trooper is easily both one of Iron Maiden's best and most memorable songs, and one of their most iconic images:


The song is inspired by the Crimean War, specifically the 1854 "Charge of the Light Brigade" in which British soldiers attacked in the face of Russian field guns with severe losses.  So, there's a definite theme of mutual pointless death and the futility of war.

The Trooper is another figure from the excellent Iron Maiden Zombicide box set.



Sunday, January 07, 2024

Student Sorcerer

Zimone, Magic Researcher

28mm


Some magic users bumble about in dusty sanctums with dried frogs and herbs. Some pore through ancient books seeking to uncover the old knowledge of others. And some, like Zimone, seek to determine an underlying structure of it all: the reproducible mathematical patterns that bind together every spell from simple fireworks right up to demon summoning... the science of magic.


Zimone is a "Magic: the Gathering" miniature, and the chalkboard is scratch built.  I had a lot of fun with this one 😁



Sunday, December 24, 2023

Speed paints

Both these figures were painted using the underpainting and glaze technique I've been practising to try and do "quick, fun" paint jobs.  It results in satisfying deep contrast (eg. my WWI style Tau) but I think I'm learning to use it for a variety of subjects, both "grim/dark", and more brightly coloured.

Wererat Duelist

28 mm


With his two blades, he'll challenge you to defend his honor, or the last slice of pizza...


Ghoul Queen

28mm



To her, you ARE the last slice of pizza.